Ticker

Trump says 'strong Europe' is good for the US

US president Donald Trump appeared to soften his stance on the EU in a meeting with Italian prime minister Paolo Gentiloni on Thursday (20 April), saying that a strong Europe was "very important" to him and the United States. His assurances break with earlier statements during Trump's campaign, when he praised Brexit and called the EU a "vehicle for Germany". Trump also called for "balanced, reciprocal" trade relations with Italy.

Central European countries say they have "nothing to hide" on rule of law issues - while justice commissioner Vera Jourova said they should agree to the Commission's controversial budget plans on rule of law conditionality.

Giovanni Buttarelli, the European data protection supervisor, says the EU-US data sharing pact known as Privacy Shield will play an increasingly minor role given the general data protection regulation.